48 ■ Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker on the 



vary from pure white to the blue already mentioned. Inter- 

 mediate coloured eggs of a very faint blue are rare, and most 

 eggs are either absolutely pure white or else of a decided, 

 though pale, blue. The surface is very fine and smooth, 

 though not so close and hard as in most Garrulax eggs, 

 being in this respect more of the texture of the eggs of the 

 genus lantliocincla or Pomatorhinus. In shape they are long, 

 somewhat pointed, ovals, varying from l"-04 to 1"*22 in 

 length, and in breadth between 0"-75 and 0"-85, the average 

 of 32 eggs being 1"-15 by 0"-80 full. 



6. Trochalopterum virgatum. [Oates, op. cit. i. p. 100.) 

 I have found this Laughing Thrush breeding only on the 

 higher ranges close to Mauipur. The nest is much like that 

 of T. lineatum, but differs in being more compact and some- 

 what smaller. In shape the nests are deep, stoutly-built 

 cups, the principal articles used in their construction being 

 tendrils, dead leaves, grasses, roots, and fine bents, some- 

 times a few bamboo-leaves and fern-fronds, and generally 

 a good deal of moss. The nests vary a good deal in shape, 

 material, and other details. One, found in a thick growth 

 of weeds and brambles, resting almost, if not quite, on the 

 ground, had the main structure made of bamboo and other 

 dead leaves, intermixed with moss and tendrils, and also 

 bound outside with the latter and a few weeds, the moss 

 projecting through, and so causing the general colour of the 

 nest to be a dull brownish green. The lining was entirely 

 of roots and fern-stems. This was a far deeper nest than 

 most, the cavity being about 3"*2 in diameter and 3"-5 in 

 depth ; the outer dimensions were very large, owing to the 

 straggling pieces of moss and bamboo-leaves. Another nest, 

 taken from the fork of a small sapling, was more compact 

 and neat, the external dimensions being 6" by 4'', and the 

 internal about 4" by 2"'8. The materials used were much 

 the same as in the last nest, with the exception that there 

 were no bamboo-leaves, and, on the other hand, tendrils 

 were even more numerous. Taking into consideration the 

 whole of the twenty nests or so that I have seen, I should say 



